Black Women and the Crooked Room

Quiz 2- Question 1

The study Melissa Perry-Harris uses as an analogy of the “crooked room” is derived from the field-dependent study which argues people are influenced by the clues in the environment to position themselves and how they people adjust themselves to fit their environment. The Field-Dependent and Field-Independent Cognitive Styles and Their Educational Implications, by Herman Witkin, Carol Moore, Donald Goodenough, Patricia Cox, in 1977 show that field-dependent people make greater use of external social symbols, but only when the situation is vague and these symbols provide information that helps to remove the ambiguity of the situation. In Sister Citizen, Melissa Perry-Harris uses the analogy of the “crooked room” to explain how Black women transform themselves into the societal roles of a Eurocentric society. The crooked room analogy is society’s portrayal of Black women, based on stereotypes justified by slavery. The challenge Black women face is standing upright in the crooked rooms of society. For example, the unsung civil rights leader Ella Baker, unintimidated by the men who devalued the advice of women in the civil rights movement. She helped organize Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC ), and the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC raised money for NAACP, conduct voter registration drives, spoke to citizens groups and travel to community after community to help people help themselves. In spite of the lack of recognition of Black women in the civil right movement, Ella Baker was able to stand upright in the crooked room.

a. Explain the study from which she derived the analogy of the “crooked room”?

b. Thoroughly explain how she uses the analogy of the crooked room to ...

... middle of paper ...

...t

Witkin, H. A., Moore, C. A., Goodenough, D. R., & Cox, P. W. (1977). Field-dependent and Field-independent Cognitive Styles and Their Educational Implications. Review of Educational Research, 47(1), 1-64. doi:10.2307/1169967

Works Cited

Federal Bureau of Investigation -Definition. (2013, August 20). FBI. Retrieved May 3, 2014, from http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/investigate/terrorism/terrorism-definition

Williams J. May 3. (2013, May 3). Political calculus keeps Cuba on U.S. list of terror sponsors. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved May 3, 2014, from http://www.latimes.com/news/world/worldnow/la-fg-wn-cuba-us-terror-list

Witkin, H. A., Moore, C. A., Goodenough, D. R., & Cox, P. W. (1977). Field-dependent and Field-independent Cognitive Styles and Their Educational Implications. Review of Educational Research, 47(1), 1-64. doi:10.2307/1169967